Historically, only a portion of ethnic Armenian athletes and athletes of Armenian descent have competed for Armenia in the Olympic Games. Classical Armenian historians attest that Armenian kings Tiridates III and Varazdat were recorded as champions in the Ancient Olympic Games. The first Armenians to participate in modern Olympics were athletes Mkrtich Mkryan and Vahram Papazyan, who represented the Ottoman Empire in the 1912. The first Armenian to win a medal was Hal Haig Prieste, a son of Armenian immigrants, who won a bronze medal in diving in the 1920 for the United States. Soviet Armenian gymnast Hrant Shahinyan became the first Armenian gold medalist of the modern Olympics in 1952.
From 1952 to 1988, most Armenian athletes represented the Soviet Union. Although Armenia became independent in 1991, it and other former Soviet states (except the Baltic states) were part of the Unified Team in 1992. The National Olympic Committee of Armenia was founded in 1990 and became an International Olympic Committee member in 1993. Since the 1994 Winter Olympics, Armenia participates separately. Some Armenian athletes, including ethnic Armenians born abroad and those who emigrated from Armenia, compete under other flags.
Although athletics never spread into Armenia in antiquity, two Armenian kings may have been champions in the ancient Olympic Games. According to Agathangelos (further corroborated by Movses Khorenatsi), one of the most prominent ancient Armenian kings, Tiridates III, who is best known for converting Armenia to Christianity in the early 4th century, was an Olympic champion prior to his reign. Modern scholars have calculated his victory in wrestling at the 265th Olympics in 281 AD, aged 22âÂÂ23.
Later king Varazdat (Varazdates), also from the Arsacid dynasty, who reigned between 374 and 378, has been widely cited as the last Olympic victor known by name, with a victory in fisticuffs (boxing) in 385 AD. It is supported by a memorial plate at the museum in Olympia, Greece. Other authors have placed the event in 369, 365, or 393. According to Movses Khorenatsi, while a prince living at the court of Roman Emperor Valens in Constantinople, he won the "pugilistic contest" by killing lions. According to Remijsen, Varazdates is the highest up the social ladder of all late-antique athletes. His victory, however, has been questioned in recent decades. Young noted that his "supposed victory is attested only in a murky Armenian source" (Movses Khorenatsi). While Nina Garsoïan considered the purported victories of Tiridates and Varazdates "improbable" and "unlikely."